How you met scuba diving

[fantarara]

On a trip to Lombok in college, I did a discover scuba and it was magical: warm and clear waters, turtles, and my hand being held by a tall, blonde Frenchman. Was hooked (with both diving and handholding) and got myself certified. Alas, the handholding is faaaar between and no more tall, blonde Frenchman. Good thing the diving is good.

I took an elective in college in the late 90s. The class was once or twice a week for a semester. I recall that the course was somewhat more intense than I expected. I remember having to tread water with hands above our heads for several minutes, retrieve a brick at the bottom of the pool, swim the length of the 25 yard pool underwater open the tank and breath using the regulator then swim back underwater again. We also had to dive at the deep end of the pool and put on our gear at the bottom several times. I thought it was the standard requirements for the OW course at the time. Maybe the instructor was a wanna-be SEAL. Sadly, I didn't get my OW cert as the lake froze over and didn't have the chance and money to get certified until many years later.

Sounds like my first training with Indonesian POSSI (CMAS 1 star). The license was actually signed by an Indonesian naval officer.

 

[DXHI]

Initially got certified in undergrad, through school program. Didn’t have the time or money to go once certified.
Grad school and 2 jobs later, a couple of co-workers talked me into going through the motions again after a really really bad relationship / and prolonged break up.. …fell in love with the adrenaline of spear fishing .. love the fresh fish
But also on the flip side , fell in love with the shear peace, beauty and tranquility of an alien world.
The GF immediately after the bad break up (in school to be a therapist) said I was just chasing a “high” after trauma and this was a phase … but she reluctantly agreed to get certified but never really liked it like I did.
Long story short we broke up … had the honeymoon suite booked at Cayman to pop the question and she ghosted me completely 1 month before we were supposed to leave … yes think Dierks Bentley “Drunk on a plane”
Well i went anyway and just so happened I met my current lady of 5 years just last week on that trip.

So technically one-met Scuba and I met my better half because of scuba

 

[Chrisk919]

My teens found me snorkeling on friend’s boats in Key Largo and then helping my grandfather clean boat hulls with a Brownies third lung. So when a friend suggested we get certified it was an easy “yes”.

Then I moved away for college and work, so it was a bit before coming back to scuba in 2018…

Then COVID came as I was ramping up again… but I made up for that over the last couple of years.

Now my wife is convinced I am in some scuba cult (she doesn’t dive) lol.

 

[fred32176]

I try activities that an area supports. In Utah I skied, In Virginia I mountain biked. When I moved to Florida I tried surfing but couldn't do it well enough. Scuba I can do, And Florida is a great place to do it.

 

[Chrisk919]

or in Lake Underhill

You dove LAKE UNDERHILL?

I mean I know it's not as murky as some of the Central FL lakes, but... That has to be worse than any quarry I can imagine.

 

[The Chairman]

That has to be worse than any quarry I can imagine.

At about 15ft, it's crystal clear. Many central Florida lakes are blackwater at the surface, but once you hit their permanent thermocline, they are spring fed. Of course, that depth might have changed over time. This was before the East/West Expressway bridge was constructed.

 

[AsherN]

Loved watching Cousteau as a kid. Then in college, I had to do mandatory PE classes. One year, they were offering snorkeling 1st semester and SCUBA 2nd. A bunch of us former lifeguards enrolled in both. When we showed up in September, the instructor informed us the SCUBA equipment was in and would we like to do that instead of snorkel. No brainer. So my course ended up being 2 semester, 24 weeks, of 2 hours a week of theory and pool work. At the end of the 2nd semester, he told us he had a buddy who was a ACUC instructor and could get certified if we wanted. The courses drilled safety and the dangers of diving. The pool work was more like a combo of OW, AOW and rescue. To qualify for the cert, we had to free swim 500m, tread water 10 minutes, and pull a buddy, both in full gear, 100m.

Great training.

 

[Still Kicking]

My dad was a big fisherman so I grew up around water -- but i always wanted to see the fish in their natural habitat.

My first awareness of scuba was a friend whose dad had some old scuba gear in his garage. My friend said it was used in Thunderball; it sounds dubious now but I was deeply intrigued.

I vividly remember seeing the bubbles from a commercial diver in the city center docks once as a small kid - that blew my mind.

However -- aside from snorkeling on vaction (lots of sand, few fish) -- I never ventured further underwater.

Much later, I won a raffle prize for diving lessons ... I was stoked but it turned out they were high board diving lessons and I am terrified of heights lol.

Fast forward another dozen years or so and I finally walked into a local dive shop. "Come back tomorrow and we will take you out in Laguna." I never looked back. Changed my life for the better in so many ways (though my non-diving wife might argue with that lol).

So many good friends and great experiences over the past three decades. It never gets old for me.